The Final Chapters of Leah Reach

[Leah Reach]

Two weeks before the Last Goodbye...

Her body relaxed against the back of the tub. Neck rested on the brink, hair draped over the edge, she fluttered in and out of focus. Her fingers grazed the surface of the water, each nail leaving a ripple she could not pry her eyes from. She drifted in reflection. Slowly but surely, her mind was lost. Thoughts of the war, pictures of the dead, memories of the lost. They evaporated like the steam of the bath, but refusing to let go, she clung to them and slid farther into the tub. In the warmth and comfort of the water, Leah found some semblance of peace. Threads of hair floating under the murky surface, eyes sliding to a close. The silence was short-lived. Not a minute after she submersed, a familiar voice brought her to life. Or whisked her away.

“Is there something wrong, Leah?” They said. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Her body tensed. Eyes opened, the young woman turned to see the face of her husband. Dark hair combed back, cheekbones sharp with a concerned smile, blue eyes glued to hers. Eli Reach was everything she could have wanted and more. Clever, handsome, brilliant, and he was standing in the door of the bathroom. She should have felt shocked or vulnerable, but she wasn’t. While the water was murky, even transparent, she would not have cared. He was hers, and she was his. However, their relationship was now tested. Jedi as they were, she was hiding something. Eli didn’t need the Force to know it. Leah made a terrible liar.

“It’s nothing.” She answered, shifting in the water. Her fingers ran through her hair, pulled back, and she struggled to lock eyes with him. Her husband sighed and walked closer to the tub. Perched on the edge of the bath, he leaned in close, trying to garner her attention.

“Leah, please. Look at me.” With one hand, he gently gestured her forward. She remained stubborn. “You can tell me anything. Whatever it is, we can work through it.” He gave a soft smile and echoed the same vows they shared on their wedding day. “I am yours, you are mine.” They never failed to strike a chord with the young woman, and slowly, she turned to face him again. For the longest time, there was silence. Awkward, deafening silence. Until she finally answered, “I’m pregnant.”

His eyes widened. In now stunned silence, she was him rise from the tub and turn his back to her. Leah feared for the worst. She was never sure how he might take it, especially given the state of the Jedi and the galaxy. She didn’t believe he would welcome the news. However, she was surprised to see him smile wider than before as he dramatically turned around. He laughed. “What? Are you kidding? That’s wonderful news.” Leah chalked up a laugh too, still surprised by how well he was taking everything. In fact, he loved it. “Really?” She said, not sure if what she was hearing was the truth. “Of course, Leah. I know it’s early but— I’m happy. For you, for us.” He leaned back against the tub and towards her.

“I know. We are in the middle of a rebellion. There will be risks, threats, dangers. But that can change.” Plucking a soaked flower from the surface of the bath, he held it in his hand. “We have a purpose now, for our child. We will fight the Empire. The reign of the Sith will end. And our child will know a freedom and peace that we never did.” In his fingers, she watched the flower blossom, nourished purely by the Force. Red petals stretched out and she watched in wonder. “Don’t give into fear, Leah. Have hope.”

She smiled, and jokingly, fired back. “Oh, Eli. An idealist through and through.” He chuckled. “Isn’t that why you married me in the first place?” He wasn’t wrong. “I can’t believe you sometimes.” She said, rolling her eyes as she chuckled. That elicited a raised brow out of the man, who stood from the tub and stepped into the bath. “Wait, what are you— Eli!” She cried out, voice mingled with laughter, smile wide. “You’re going to flood the bathroom!” Her husband looked at her straight in the eye and answered, “And?” Sharing in her laughter, he leaned down and kissed her. Water spread across the tile floors. The flower he gave her followed.

Leah emerged out of the water and back into reality. Lips cold, longing for his touch. Eyes blank, knowing it was only a memory. The Jedi Master was shaken to her core. Every piece of her missed him, her husband, and no matter what she did, there was no escaping the past. Mind wandering, she mulled over his loss, her grief, and then the child she gave birth to in the months following that memory. It was a boy. She named him Elias, after his father, and she loved him more than anything. He was her greatest purpose, the driving reason to fight against the Empire, because she wanted him to live in a galaxy without the Sith. Without having to hide. It was what convinced her husband to call for the remnants of the Jedi to Dantooine, where they might begin a true Alliance.

Needless to say, tragedy was inescapable. As time went on, and the Sith Empire stood strong, Leah feared for her son and his safety. They had lost a child before, and with rebel efforts intensifying, she refused to train him to join his father in a revivified Jedi Order. He was too young and the risk too great. However, her overprotection became her downfall. Elias disappeared not long after. For whatever reason, Leah couldn’t say for sure. But she blamed herself, and she missed him as much as she missed her husband. Not a day went by that she didn’t think of him, where he was, or what he was doing. She hoped for the best. Little did she know, her son had fallen to become the worst.

Done staying alone with her thoughts, Leah left her bath and dried off. Given some time, she slipped into her usual outfit. Flowing robes fit for an ambassador. She was ready for another day of negotiations, diplomacy, planning. There was much to do with the Alliance, and the Jedi she had unintentionally led to ruin. A part of her always believed what was going on was her fault. Hers alone. Many times before, Leah considered leaving. In truth, she had decided last night it was time to announce it. Before the Rebel Council. They needed Aurora and Valentine. With Vu’thari back, she trusted he might lead the Order back into the Light whereas she could not. She trusted in him. She trusted in the Force.

She opened the door of her chambers. Her eyes connected with another. Not rebel, not Jedi. She was not sure who but fear took her. Heart sinking, blood racing. A masked man, hair pulled back, thin and slender. A Sith, but not in the flesh. Her right hand instantly fell to her lightsaber, ready to rip her enemy in two. Until she sensed something else. Someone else. Her voice fell to a whisper.

“Elias?” It couldn’t be. Her son. Her dear boy.

 

[Leah Reach]

Two days after the Last Goodbye...

Leah couldn’t sleep. Since leaving Ifrane, since leaving everyone and everything behind her, she struggled to find peace or purpose. All her mind could find were old memories. Aurora, smiling through the canopy of trees as they observed students on the Kashyyyk pilgrimage. Valentine, hands clasped together and laughter shared after negotiations on Mon Cala. Her daughter playing in the grass. Her husband skimming his hand through stubs of wheat. Her baby boy, plump cheeks and closed eyes, snug against her chest. They were her real family. She made many friends in the Rebellion, and her heart gave out to them, but her mind and its thoughts could not be so easily escaped. She needed to find her son.

The shuttle emerged out of hyperspace. The streak of blue focused into a million stars. The world of Dantooine waited below. Her head tilted toward the window. Fingers twitched against the table. It was time to see her son. Rising from her seat, she left for the cockpit. No longer in her dress, draped in grey robes. Hair pinned back, topped with an elaborate bun. Leah was not the same woman she was when she left Ifrane. But that didn’t mean she was without hope. What happened was enough to exhaust anyone of it but she was not just anyone. She was a Jedi Master, a rebel ambassador. Most of all, she was a mother. There was nothing that might discourage her from what she needed to do.

Her son was waiting. For the past several weeks, she was plagued with visions. Except they were real. The Force was connecting her to him. Across the galaxy. In spite of distance, physical and otherwise. To her horror, she discovered her son had fallen to the Dark Side, and there was nobody else to blame but herself. It was another mistake she needed to solve. A broken bond to be mended back together. Through their many connections, Leah sensed conflict in him. There was still a chance he might turn. She was his mother, after all. She loved him, and she hoped that would be enough to persuade him to turn. It was selfish of her to say, but she desperately wanted him back. Leah wanted her family back.

It didn’t take long for her to land. She was eager to see her son again. Outside the ruins of the Dantooine temple, where her husband died, not far from where she once lived. Her former home was nothing more than a mound of rubble too. Not from the bombardment, but general decay. The roof was caved in, windows shattered, door left ajar after a storm swept through years ago. Vines crawled up the walls, the roots of a tree gripped the foundation, wildflowers blossomed at the doorstep. Leah smiled. She could recognize everything. Where her daughter frolicked. The oak tree she hanged from, or where Leah laid beneath on a midsummer night.

She eyed her other surroundings. The garden of herbs she tended to had expanded far and wide. The field of wheat her husband planted and plowed was ready for harvest but was left untouched. If she squinted hard enough, or closed her eyes to hear the trill of insects or song of birds, Leah could almost place herself back in the past. When she knew peace. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape the now. What was done, was done. Nothing could change it. At least, right now, Leah could come one step closer to those memories if she could convince her son. Having one piece of her family was better than none.

That was when Leah caught him. Past the far-flung pastures, over the garden of flowers. Elias, robed and unmasked, stood patiently on the other side of an open field. Even if she couldn’t clearly see him, their eyes were locked. Her breath shuddered. “Elias.” She whispered. Step by step, her feet carried her to him. It was time to see him. Her son. Her dear boy.

 

[Leah Reach]

Theme.​

“Elias.” She echoed. Leaves rippled against a gust of wind from the north. A chill climbed her spine but her smile was warm. Thoughts whisked away, there was only she and her son. Nobody else. She had been waiting for such a moment for years. She had rehearsed what to say a hundred times but seeing Elias again left her speechless. She didn’t know what to say. But she didn’t have to say anything. For the moment.

Her son carved through the awkward silence first. Dark blonde hair, blank face. He nodded. “Mother.” Her heart lifted to hear him say it but even without the Force, she sensed his hesitation. It had taken everything to get him to meet her. She understood if he was fighting the temptation of the Dark Side in that very moment.

“There hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about you.” She said and inched closer. “Where you went, what you were doing.” He was silent. Leah only continued. “It pains me to see you like this. Consumed by the Dark Side.” Another step. “But that doesn’t change anything. You’re my son, Elias. We’re family. Always.”

She wanted to reach out to him, but he answered coldly and distantly. “Your son is dead. Like his father, he is no more. Gone.”

Leah shook her head. “That is what the Dark Side wants you to believe. Because I know my son, and he is alive. He is standing right here. With me.” He was so close now. Close enough to touch. “And so is his father. Your father. In the Force.” A gentle breeze raked her hair. She smiled to know her husband was watching. “Nobody is ever really gone.”

“You’re wrong.” He said and took one step back.

“You don’t believe that.” She took one step forward. Silence followed.

“You abandoned me. You did this.”

There he was, her son. Her heart ached to see him and that pained look in his eyes. Because he was right. She nodded. “I know— I know. I’ve done terrible things. Things I shouldn’t have done. Things I regret.” She drew a deep breath. “I’m not asking you to forget, but if you can find forgiveness… we can build something new. Together. Without the same mistakes of the past.”

They shared in the longest pause. Leah was not sure what he would say, but she hoped. The Force was in flux, and he was conflicted. She knew there was a chance to turn him.

“It’s too late.” He finally said.

“It’s never too late.” A glint in her eye. “Come home with me. Please.”

“I don’t know.” His voice was weak, almost pleading. She couldn’t stop herself after that. She was looking at her son. The boy she loved. And he needed her help.

“Then listen to me. Let me help you.” She urged. “Don’t let your pain control you.”

Her son glanced to the ground. The dirt at his feet, each wavering blade of grass. “I know what to do but I don’t think I have the strength to do it.”

“Then let me show you.”

“But how?”

“Together.”

Fingers unfurled, she opened the palm of her hand and gestured him closer. He obliged. From beneath his dark robes, he revealed one of his lightsabers. Energies of the Dark Side hissed and burst forth but Leah resisted its call. She aimed to smother it out. To purify the corrupted crystal inside with her son. That way, at last, he could be free from his past.

Her hand turned over and she gripped the hilt of his lightsaber. “Trust in the Force.”

They locked eyes. He whispered, “Trust.”

Silence. Not meaningless silence. But full of words and feelings only either of them might understand. Fear, regret, remorse. The Force united them once more. Opposite sides of the same coin merged into one. Mother and son together again. She breathed in. He breathed out. They stared at one another for the longest time. As the birds fell quiet, as the wind grew cold, as the sun set on the horizon. That was when it happened.

His lightsaber turned and ignited. Deep into her chest. Its crimson edge driven into her heart. She breathed out. He breathed in. Elias whispered, tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Leah shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.” She reached out a hand, caressed his cheek. A thumb wiped away his tear. No matter what happened, whatever he did, she loved him. Always. As the lightsaber pulled away, deactivated, Leah watched him with only loving eyes before she became one with the Force. Her grey robes drifted to the ground. The last streaks of daylight descended. As she left to return home, Elias was left alone. Her son. Her dear boy.

 

[Leah Reach]

Leah wasn’t sure where she was. She hardly registered what happened. One moment, she was with her son on Dantooine, hands together over his lightsaber. Next moment, she was thrust with the edge of his blade, gone. Except, not gone. Just somewhere else.

Back in the fields of wheat and corn. Out in the morning air, where a dozen shades of red and gold painted the sky. Not far from the porch where they used to sit and watch the sun rise. Her eyes wandered from the ground and gravitated toward the real reason why she was there: her husband.

“Eli.” She said, hardly a whisper, but he heard her.

“Leah.” She hadn’t heard his voice for years but it felt like it was only yesterday.

A pause as she looked away, ashamed. “I’m sorry. I failed you. I failed our son.”

“You didn’t.” He answered, walked up to her, and held a hand to her chin. It was so long since they were that close. “You did everything you could. But all is as the Force wills it.”

“Does the will of the Force demand that our son be doomed to the Dark Side?”

“No.” He said and leaned in. They hugged. She melted into his arms, tears in her eyes. He reassured, “This is only the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“Of a new hope.”

Leah looked at him. “You and your metaphors.” She held her head against his chest. “I missed you.”

He smiled. A soft and knowing chuckle passed his lips. “I know.”

They stood there quietly until Leah looked over his shoulder, and through blades of grass, in the field of wheat and flowers, she caught another face. Whether it was a dream, whether this was truly afterlife, Leah didn't know. The Force worked in mysterious ways. Regardless, who she saw was clear as day. Her daughter. Her dear girl.